


Part and Parcel

by PonderingsAndWritings



Series: Critical Role Relationship Week 2018 [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: And they were pen pals, Critical Role Relationship Week, F/F, Gen, Oh god they were pen pals, Pen Pals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 08:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14973038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PonderingsAndWritings/pseuds/PonderingsAndWritings
Summary: Cali’s next package comes two months later. It’s an assortment of sweets and lollipops of different flavours from the Menagerie Coast and a wave of loud voices, laughter and the smell of croissants washes over Jester.I couldn’t get you pastries because the journey would make them stale before they arrived.





	Part and Parcel

**Author's Note:**

> I was so happy when I rolled this pairing for the second day of this Relationship Week. I just love them. This can be seen as both platonic and romantic, depending on how you look at it.

“A’right. We’ve got the keys.”

“Great. Jester, you coming?”

“One sec!” yells Jester as she inches the pencil closer to get to Caleb’s book.

The attempt is thwarted when Caleb reaches up and slaps her hand away before she can even draw the tail to the new version of her hamster unicorn.

“Hmph,” Jester slumps in her seat as Beau shakes her head with a smile and Nott raises her eyebrows in amusement, focusing once again on the wizard and his copying.

The clicks and clangs from the tavern around her occupy her mind as she lets her gaze drift, speculating how to reach Caleb’s book without him or Nott noticing. She quickly gets distracted as a guy who has apparently had one two many drinks and tries to court a beautiful halfling woman with purple shades in her hair.

Jester snorts in laughter as the halfling gets frustrated and gets up to dump her drink on the wannabe suitor. She faceplants on the table and laughs harder when she realizes the woman’s stature meant the beer found its way on the man’s crotch.

“Ahem, I’m sorry?” A squeaky voice pops up from behind her and Jester turns and gets straight into the stranger’s face.

Upon rather close inspection, she can see it’s a teenage boy. He looks fifteen, but she notices the pointed edge to his ears. He is wearing a rather dirty blue cloak and Jester can see him tremble slightly.

“Can we help ya?” Jester sees Fjord move forward to her left from her periphery and returns to staring intently at the boy.

“Ah, um, yes. I-um. I was looking for the, the Mighty Nein?” the boy says trying to shuffle away from Jester.

“Well, my good lad, you’ve found them,” Molly intones happily from behind her.

Jester stops looking at the boy’s face and shifts her gaze, only to discover a package being held in his trembling hands.

“Oh, oh! Beau look! It’s a package. Is this for us?” Jester gestures excitedly.

The boy nods quickly and clears his throat again, “Um, yes. A friend told me to deliver this to Jester. I, um, guessing this would be you?”

Jester nods and dances in place, reaching for the package.

“And who is your friend?” she hears Beau ask.

“Oh, ah. Calianna, miss. Her name’s Calianna. Said she’s your pen pal?”

At the sound of that Jester jumps up with the package in her arms and turns to put it on the table. It’s relatively small, compared to her mother’s care packages, but shaking it she can hear a slight jostle inside.

“Thank you, my friend. You can tell Cali we’ve received her delivery,” Fjord nods at the boy.

“Yes and here’s a little something for your troubles,” mutters Molly tossing him some coin, as Jester tears open the wrapping. It’s way too soon to be receiving another letter from Cali since she got one about two weeks ago and only replied to that a week after because they’d been caught up crawling in some cellars in search of poisoned wine.

The envelope with the letter rests on the very top of the box and Jester opens it first.

_Dear Jester,_

_I know it’s way too early to be sending another letter. I haven’t even gotten your reply to my last one yet, but I wanted to get this to you as fast as possible._

“Well this explains a lot,” Jester mutters.

_The truth is, I have been toying with an idea since our discussion about your mom’s care packages. It’s been a while now that we’ve been talking and I feel very close to you as a friend, so I thought it might be fun to exchange small gifts along with our letters every now and then. It doesn’t have to be all the time, especially because it’s expensive, but I found something that I believe you’d like so I figured I’d start this and you could follow if you wanted? You don’t have to._

_Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading your letter. It should be getting here soon. Oh! There are also a few things in there for the rest of the Mighty Nein, but yours is in the little pouch._

_Your friend,_

_Cali_

A list of what object is meant for whom follows.

“Come everyone, there’s stuff for all of us in here,” Jester announces and takes to distributing the trinkets.

Fjord gets a shark tooth necklace, which makes him humph and shake his head.

Molly gets a purple and teal scarf and immediately ties it around his neck.

Yasha gets a few pressed flowers and notes with their locations.

Beau actually looks excited to hold a retractable rod and Nott is already sniffing the alcohol in the premium bottle.

Caleb has gone excitedly catatonic at the sight of another scroll.

Meanwhile, Jester locates the pouch and hides it in her bag, finishing her drink.

She waits until later when she and Beau head upstairs and her roommate is asleep to open it. A tiny silver bracelet with intermittent pink stones falls on her waiting palm along with a small note.

_You can use this once per day. I know you’ve been getting stronger and can use more spells, but it’s always useful to have more energy in hand. Plus, you’re right. The limit on Sending can be annoying_.

_Tell your mom I said hi._

_~Cali_

Jester stands there for a moment, palm open and almost cradling the bracelet. A small smile forms on her face and she sniffs.

She puts the bracelet on and attunes to its magical aura for a while, waiting until she can sense its hold on her energy.

“Thank you, Cali,” she whispers as the wind picks up outside the window.

 

* * *

  

The next day, Jester and Beau are taking a stroll in the commercial district when Jester spies a beautiful emerald bandana in one display.

She rushes in and purchases it, already writing the letter in her mind.

_I know you don’t like having your hair pushed back because of the scales, but they are really beautiful and they shine in the sun and you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to, but I thought it might be nice when it’s summer and it’s hot and there’s not many people around where you are, so you can push your hair back to not die of heat or something._

 

* * *

 

Cali’s next package comes two months later. It’s an assortment of sweets and lollipops of different flavours from the Menagerie Coast and a wave of loud voices, laughter and the smell of croissants washes over Jester.

_I couldn’t get you pastries because the journey would make them stale before they arrived._

* * *

 

Three months later, Jester finds a small dagger with a green emerald embedded in the hilt. Caleb says it can hurt people more than usual daggers, but Nott has already found a shinier one that dances as well so she passes on it.

Jester puts it in the bag and takes it out later, taking care to wrap it so that it doesn’t pierce Cali’s skin.

_I know we both have magic, but maybe you’ll end up dealing with enemies when you’re tired and need it. It kind of reminds me of a dragon claw as well_.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t hear from Cali in six months after that. The next package reaches them as they settle in, wary and bone tired in the local inn. Jester doesn’t even question how Cali knows where the tiny village they are hiding in is.

She opens it to find a blue and green cloak.

_Makes it harder for people to hit you. I have been practicing with more magical means to do that recently and don’t need it anymore. But I don’t like the thought of people hitting you. Be careful._

* * *

 

The exchanges continue. From silly hats and ribbons and sweets to daggers, cloaks, magic rings.

Sometimes it takes three weeks. Other times Jester doesn’t hear from her friend in months. During those times, she clutches the bracelet in her palms at night and whispers.

“Cali, I drew a skeleton eating a lollipop and exploding today. I hope you’ll see it soon.”

“Cali, you won’t believe what happened. Yasha came back late last night… Okay wait no, first I need to tell you about Beau being all grumpy…”

“Cali, Nott and I counted our ring collection, we’ve got so many they won’t fit in our hands!”

She doesn’t say I miss you.

 

* * *

 

A year after their first encounter, while scouting an old cavern, Jester finds a chest and within it a cloak woven in black and silver. She looks at it carefully over the next few minutes as Fjord and Molly examine a couple of swords.

A moment afterwards she cannot see her arms. She jumps in surprise, removing her hand from it and it shimmers back into existence.

That night she paints a hamster unicorn with small black scales on its two front legs.

_I hope you’re safe. Stay that way._

* * *

 

Years later, the Mighty Nein save the world. Years later, the charges against Jester are forgotten, mostly because people are now afraid of incurring the wrath of the group. Years later, Jester and Cali meet up outside the best bakery at the Menagerie Coast.

Cali shimmers in existence across from Jester with a smile and Jester brings the bracelet to her lips and speaks.

“I’ve missed you.”

Years later and Jester thinks the best gift she’s gotten from Cali is her warm hug and a whisper of “I missed you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, I wrote this in a hurry because I wanted to finish it in time. Please excuse any grammatical mistakes. I very much hope you enjoyed this. I, for one, am also looking forward to the next one. This week has gotten my writing gears turning. 
> 
> Reviews are always welcome.


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